Double-faced sign construction



R. G. HAMILTON 2,615,268

DOUBLE-FACED SIGN CONSTRUCTION Oct. 28, 1952 Filed ma zo, 1949 lNVENTOR[Flo/1A RD G. fih/wuon/ BY rgwj ATTOR EYS Patented Oct. 28, 1952 UNITEDSTATE 5 parent orricl:

DOUBLE-FACED SIGNi co strR ctrIoN Richard G. Hamilton,Westfield,*lVIass., assignor to Colonial Art 00. Inc., Westfield, Mass,a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 20, 1949, Serial No.94,281

Another object of the invention is to provide a.

one piece sign plate with means for retaining interchangeable signs orplaques on each face thereof and to do so without detracting from theutility and attractive appearance of the same when viewed from eitherside.

A further object is to providea sign plate simp e in construction andeconomical in manufacture the advantages of Which will be readily seen 1Claim. (01. 40-4 13) lll from the following disclosure of my inventionin connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 isa planview of one face of'the sign, 7

showing details of construction;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentaryplan View of the reverse side with details ofconstruction; 7

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the front sign face showing the arrangement ofcharacters and plaques;

Fig. 4 is a view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a View on line 55 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail view showing a modification ofconstruction.

The sign device comprises a fiat sheet of rela tively thin material suchas sheet celluloid, stiff plastic material, cardboard, metal or the liketo provide a plate member I on which are formed the means for attachmentof bendable sign pieces such as plaques 2 and numerical characters 3. I

As shown by Figs. 1 and 4 the means for attachrnent of each numericalcharacter consists of a pair of spaced portions 4 and 5 struck outwardlyfrom the plane of the plate surface to one side thereof as to the leftin Fig. 4 and upwardly as in Fig. 1.

Portions 4 and 5 are of a restricted 1 area and the adjacent sidesthereof are slit to tiOn l5.

that the tabs will be held in the same against shifting lateral andlongitudinal movement relative to the plate I. Portions 4 and 5 are ofany given number as desired and, as shown, are ar.-

ranged in sets or pairs across the face of the plate member I.Interchangeable with the numerical characters may be provided a plaque 9such as is shown by Fig. 3 for carrying suitable informa tion tosupplement the numbers.

On the reverse side of plate member I are provided similar spacedportions of restricted area I struck outwardly of the plane of the platesurface. 1 These portions, I63 and II have adjacent edges slit as at I2and I3. Preferably the s'ets or pairs of portions on the reverse sidecorrespond innumber to those on the front of the sign, and each isarranged on member I in vertical alignment with a pair of portions 4 and5. Portion It is directly above portion 4; and portion II is directlyabove portion 5.

- At the top of plate member I horizontally disposed sign pieces, asplaques 2, are attached in similar fashion to lie on the plate surface.Spaced portions I4 and I5 are struck outwardly of the plane of the platesurface to one side and portions I6 and I! are in raised positionoutwardly to the other side. The facing adjacent sides ofportion's I4and I5 and corresponding sides of It and H are slit to receive in theopenings thus provided the shouldered tabs I9 of plaques 2.

It is to be noted. however, that the raised portion I4 and its adjacentoppositely raised portion I6, and the raised portions I5 and I! are eacharranged with a common side edge. That is, the front slit edge ofportion I4 coincides with the rear edge of portion It, the front slitedge of portion I'I coincides with the rear edge of por- Portions l6 andI5 are thus provided with slits at the front and rear edges forming astrap rather than a pocket at one end of the retaining portions on eachside of the plate I.

In this maner a one piece sign plate construction utilizing bothsurfaces may maintain a sign plaque 2 exactly centered on one side ofthe plate and a plaque 2 on the other side slightly displaced from acenter position. It will readily be seen that the positioning may becompromised to have each closely approximating a central location.

Inthe modification of Fig. 6 a rectangular area of the plate member Imay be also depressed out of the plane of the plate surface between thepair of front portions I l and I5 so as to outline the area of the bodyportion of a sign plaque. In

this way the surface of the plaque on the front plaque 2 to lie insubstantially flat contact on the reverse surface.

As shown by Fig. 1 the plaque 2 is preferably arranged to overlie theupper pockets ID of sets of raised portions for the reverse side of thesign. Where provision is made for five characters the tabs of the twooutside characters 3 will appear on each side of the plaque 2. number isprovided none will appear. portions I I being relatively located aboveportions 5 are covered by the body portion of a character 3.

Where a, lesser The lower 7 Thus the appearance from one side of thesign pockets removably inserted in each pair of said as in Fig. 3 issubstantially that of a single faced sign. In the view from the reverseside the numerals are located in a higher position with relation to theplate member and the tabs of characters which are of a contrasting colorwill appear in portions 5 as underscoring of the numerals (see Fig. 2).

By the novel arrangement of the numerical characters and sign plaques onthe reverse side and theircorrelation with the same elements on I thefront sign face the simplicity of construction is preserved with addedutility and without sacrificing the attractive appearance.

Having disclosed my invention I claim:

A double faced sign comprising a flat plate member of sheet materialhaving a pair of vertically aligned spaced portions, each of restrictedarea and struck outwardly from the plate surface to the same sidethereof, said portions each having three closed edges and having facingedges slit to form facing offset pockets, a second pair of verticallyaligned spaced portions of restricted area and of the same conformationstruck outwardly from the plate surface to the other side thereof andhaving facing edges slit to form a second pair of facing spaced pockets,each of the latter being closely adjacent and below one of the firstpair and in direct alignment therewith-with the two adjacent pockets onopposite sides of the plate facing in the same direction and formingali'gned recessed areas 4 open to opposite sides of the plate, thesurface spaces on the plate between the respective pairs of facingpockets being substantially in overlapping back to back relation, a setof horizontally aligned pocketportions comprising a pair of spacedportions struck outwardly from the upper section of the plate surface toone side of the plate above said vertically aligned-pockets and a pairof similarly spaced portions in horizontal alignment therewith struckoutwardly to the opposite side of the plate with each of the latter pairbeing closely adjacent to one of said first horizontal pair, saidhorizontally disposed pairs on each plate side having vertical facingedges slit to form offset pockets, bendable sign pieces havingshouldered retaining tabs of an area coextensive With said verticallyaligned pockets and bendable sign pieces having retaining tabs insertedin each pair of said horizontally aligned pockets, each of thehorizontal sign pieces being of rectangular formation and in back toback relation on the plate member with one overlying and concealing theuppermost pocket of the uppervpair of saidvertically spaced pockets andthe other overlying and concealing the recessed area of said uppermostpocket at the other side of said plate.

RICHARD G. HAMILTON.

REFERENCES CITED 2 The following references are of recordin the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1

